tucsonchangelingfandomcom-20200214-history
The Freehold
=Oath of the Freehold= In Troubled Times my Needs may be greater than my Haves. As I stand with my fellows in Freedom from those who would take our all, I pledge to give what I have to those who do need, to place myself on the line so all can be free. Upon threat of banishment, I swear to uphold the Freedom of my Fellows, the Laws of the Freehold, and the Will of the Monarchs, and submit myself to their justice should I work against any of the three. =Freehold Laws= 1. Each must join the Freehold on their own volition. 2. The Seasons Shall Change. 3. There shall always be a Monarch. 4. Only the Favored may the Freehold employ. 5. The Favored are entrusted to run the Freehold. 6. Will of the Favored alone can turn away the needy. =History= The 19th Century and Prior It is not disputed that Changelings have been in Tucson for a long time. What is disputed... is everything else. Tucson's muddied history books have a number of causes. Firstly, chronicles of events have never been given much priority by the Changelings at large. Survival and continued freedom have always taken the fore. Secondly, there are... Events. One could almost call them extinctions, sudden die-offs where large populations of changeling simply stop leaving their marks upon history. And until relatively recently, no-one knew what happened. The Tasseled Tome Era (1905 - 1928) Only around the turn of the century did the new changelings who would settle into the city finally break the cycle, and set the stage for Tucson's future status quo. In 1905, a young motley found an ornate book, tucked away in the small library of the nascent University of Arizona, purporting to belong to a previous Freehold. It chronicled the daily life under a strict, but benevolent rule, a tight knit community of Lost who sought to stick together and fight for their freedom... And then nothing. That first motley would gather more changelings to themselves over the next few years, and gradually came the desire for the safety of traditional seasonal monarchy. Still, all along, it was agreed that it would be dangerous to maintain a monolithic freehold, for fear of vanishing abruptly, traceless. Membership in the freeehold was not enforced, and small pockets communities were allowed to survive on their own. It turned out to be a fortuitous choice. The so-called Freehold of the Tasseled Tome survived through a world war, the depression, and nearly made it through prohibition. Then one day, when the Outskirt Motleys, led by Marchlord Dominic Merci, came to flash their lapel pins and slip inside the freehold's secluded, speakeasy facade for court.... They found nothing. The entire establishment was empty to the walls of ornamentation, life, or even dust, save a single, empty, label-less wine bottle of purple glass with a chipped mouth. While the Freehold of the Broken Bottle was established shortly thereafter, It would be almost ten years until regular passing of the crown would return to Tucson, and only with the aid of a burgeoning, politically powerful Margravate of the Brim offering reluctant support. The Broken Bottle Era (1928 - 1975) Many Changelings made a name for themselves in the generally passive period leading up to World War Two, but it was the post-war boom, and Tucson's exploding population, that became the golden years for the Broken Bottle's Changelings. For a twenty year stretch, the history books are almost entirely free of the mention of The Others, perhaps with the chaos of Europe proving more desirable for The Fae than Tucson. Of course, in the interim, personal and court politics largely dominated the scene, and the freehold's size always grew behind the rate of Tucson's exploding population. Many changelings who might have settled in Tucson during these years instead found themselves drawn to the relative safety of Phoenix, where the whispered threat of sudden disappearance didn’t circulate so strongly. With the threats of mass extinctions behind them, the stigma attached to the freehold faded, especially among new Lost who chose to stay. Once again the borderlanders were seen as outcast, but still many courtiers and even Monarchs, especially older ones, kept private holdings and interests away from the Freehold. In 1975, the centerpiece of the freehold, the purple broken bottle left at the Tasseled Tome’s empty husk, vanished mysteriously just before the spring monarch was to pass the crown to summer. The freehold simply ignored it’s absence, but within days the new summer monarch King Hyfesta had the supposed conspirators rounded up and brought to justice before the court - Even though the bottle itself was never located. Instead, the missing chip was used as evidence of guilt. Regardless, King Hyfesta and the other monarchs agreed that it was ominous, and a good excuse to move the freehold somewhere more able to accommodate it’s swollen membership. The Freehold Of Tucson / The Sand-Stone Lodge Era (1975 -1997) Initially erected for a long forgotten fraternal organization, the freehold moved into a large ‘Lodge’, a gathering hall with kitchens and private lounges aplenty in which to conduct business and pageantry. Of course, beneath the pavement large caverns offered the real draw of the Sand Stone Lodge: A grand throne room and layers of physical protection between it and the surface. King Hyfesta would remain the monarch for many years. Later, joined by Winter Queen Esle, and Spring King Lorlyn they would rule as a triumvirate, joined by a parade of Autumn Monarchs that changed every two or three years as the Court’s projects took up more or less of their courtiers’ time. In 1987, Tucson experienced the incursion of The Fae into phoenix from afar, and dealt with their own crisis of invasion. A single ancient keeper supposedly mentioned in the Tassled Tome returned abruptly. A short, dangerous conflict ensued, waged more with the secretive Autumn court’s instruction in unusual rituals than in physical might of any of Tucson’s changeling. The cost seemed light - Almost too light - And for years, it would be rumored a mere ploy to keep the Freehold from aiding Phoenix in the north. And Tucson watched the meteoric rise of Phoenix’s Summer King, Anerian, and looked away in horror at the end of his year in power as he began his decades long rule with a bloody pronouncement, the murder of that Freehold’s autumn king. The Triumvirate’s members each took their ringside view of Anerian’s ascent differently. Despite fear of a second city of Endless Summer, Hyfesta stood down when his time came, citing the need for continual changing of the seasons to protect them from the tragedies as had befallen Phoenix. King Lorlyn agreed, but all could see that something during the Fae Incursion had changed him. Some rumored that he had stuck north to fight and been wounded in battle... While others, much quieter, whispered of his ties to the taken Spring Queen Lorelai, known far and wide as Arenian’s true love. But, Queen Esle turned away with a very different view. She saw Anerian’s ascent as an affront to her court, a personal slight of the powerful summer court of Phoenix against the Winter Court everywhere. When she refused to abdicate to the shattered Lorlyn, the shock exceeded that when Hyfesta stood aside. Unwilling to bring his court to war with Esle over the matter of succession, or threaten the unity of the freehold, Lorlyn became the first of many apologists to enable the Mad Queen. For years, she turned the lorekeepers and magic-scholars of the freehold to trying to develop a great work, a monolithic contract with the power of smoke that would keep her freehold from suffering loss as Anerian’s had. The Mad Queen would stay atop her throne until 1997, when Winter King Joseph of Flagstaff died at the hands of Anerian, after challenging the Summer Tyrant to end his long reign. Esle’s connection to Joseph were the rumors legends are made off, but one thing is clear - She ignored the warnings of her battery of lorekeepers and scholars and demanded an immediate, dangerous agreement with Smoke. When Queen Esle called the freehold together that night, nearly the entire city came. However, a small cabal, led by none other than the aging Dominic Merci, suspected that the Queen’s summons would end in tragedy. Their word got to many, including King Hyfesta... Who, insisted upon going, knowing full well the Cabal’s warning. He told them only “If you are right, then I am the only one who can be there when, wherever we may disappear to, The Mad Queen comes to her senses and realizes what she has done.” Nearly every Changeling in Tucson was present in the Sandstone Lodge when Esle enacted the contract, and smoke poured out, devouring anything of the Wyrd it found. Contracts, Pledges, Tokens all fell mundane, and many changelings who made it out of the freehold alive bear strange scars where smoke tried to erase them from reality. All present vowed to leave the smoking ruins that had been their freehold and scatter to the winds. All, except the cabal. =Freehold Positions= Archivist Currently one of the alley cats is performing this task. Summer Knight Role currently held jointly by both Boudi and Cathal. Twilit Page Formerly held by Whisper before the incident during the summer feast. =Monarchs= *Spring King - Bruin Hague *Summer King - Edmond Reynard *Autumn King - Tommy *Winter Queen - Adelle Phlox Category:Freehold Category:History